Award-Winning Ad Taken Off Air In Australia

bol_kernal writes "An award-winning advertisement on Australian TV for the new Hyundai 4WD has been pulled from being broadcast after stations received 80 complaints from concerned parents. The ad consists of a small child, age around 2 years, cruising down the road, window down, arm out the window, in his new Hyundai 4WD. He sees a girl of the same age standing on the side of the road, pulls over picks her up, and they go to the beach together. All in all it's cute, funny, and very well done. The ad aired late in the evening (8:30 pm or later), but it was pulled due to concern from parents about the copycat risk. What I want to know is, where has the responsibility of parents gone? Is the world becoming so serious — or so frightened — that fantasy is no longer allowed?"

Comments

Simple answer: YES

[Teddy Beartuzzi]

Geezus, we even had folks complaining about a *robot* who had a *nightmare* about suicide.

Complain!

[arlo5724]

Hypothesizing about fantasy amounts to fantasizing! I move to have this story removed from /. Sign below.

So you're the ones

[Infonaut]

I always wondered where all the Bush voters came from.

Re:So you're the ones

[commodoresloat]

I always wondered where all the Bush voters came from.

Nah; folks in the Bush don't vote much.... it's the ones in the cities you've got to worry about, mate!

VERY dangerous to children

[ChePibe]

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think we're all missing the point here, folks! It's not the kids driving and picking up kids, but how they're driving.

Two-year olds driving, yeah, that's cool, but what if they start acting out what they see on TV and driving on the left side of the road? Trying to steer the car from the passenger side? What kind of example is the media setting for our kids?

Won't someone think of the CHILDREN!

Crazy foreigners, corrupting our American youth...

Yes, I realize non-U.S. citizens read /.

Re:I for one am glad it's gone...

[Anonymous Coward]

No. She was hitching a ride. And he was probably going to rape her.

You've got no fantasy ;)

Re:Things are way out of hand

[nEoN nOoDlE]

but what about all those hundreds or thousands of other kids that might be seeing it? I, as an innocent bystander can be driving around minding my own business and get rear ended by a damn 2 year old going to the beach with his girlfriend, all because that ad was on the air.

Re:Nothing has changed

[Ant P.]

To be honest, if you've got kids that age who know how to get into your 4WD, start it up, have the strength to pull the handbrake off, and can drive stick... they should really be in a circus.

Re:Explain to a two year old?

[Oligonicella]

Uh, you know this is /. right? Consider the probability of the posters here having:

1) Being old enough to have had children.
2) Being unselfish enough to have had children.
3) Having had sex.

I mean, read the posts already generated about reasoning with a 2 year old.

Re:Explain to a two year old?

[elrous0]

Here is something I've noticed about my 2 year old nephew. He doesn't know how to start a car, release a handbrake, or put in a car in gear. Nor would his feet even reach the peddles, should the urge hit him to drive to the beach.

If there is a 2-year-old out there smart enough to start up a car and drive it to the beach, I say let them go. They've earned it.

-Eric

Well

[Jethro]

To be fair, the kid is driving like a maniac.